Is America trying to avoid school shootings or prepare for them?

Two kids play a game to get the biggest stick in the park. Their competitive spirits cause them to run for hours as each time a bigger stick is found the other tries to find another that is bigger. This game is an arms race, one that, in theory, could last forever. It is only the 4th month of 2023 and American students have experienced 13 school shootings. In response, supporters of the NRA believe that the solution to this school shooting epidemic is more guns. The idea is flawed as if history has not already revealed to us before, an arms race is never the answer!

Supporters of the NRA strongly believe that owning firearms is a part of the “American identity” and that the 2nd Amendment is a right that should never be taken away. Even when faced with the reality of the threat of gun violence, gun rights advocates stand firm in their right to bear arms. In response to school shootings, government officials such as South Dakota’s governor Krisi Noem believe that the attempt to further restrict gun access is “all about control and it is garbage. I’m not buying it for a second and you shouldn’t, either.” As a result, the approach that the NRA believes schools should take is adding more security to schools by arming teachers or school safety officers. In a tweet made to the official NRA account shortly after the Uvalde school shooting, they mentioned that the shooter had thought of targeting another school but decided not to after realizing “too much security.” The NRA believes that the best way to stop school shootings is to scare away the shooters with armed teachers and metal detectors. Have they forgotten that guns are responsible for violence in the first place?

I remember sitting in my history class taking the opportunity to turn and tell a joke to my friend as my teacher made his way to the classroom telephone. After only a few seconds, he immediately slammed the phone back into the box and instructed us to all get to the corner of the room. There were no other words required to be said. We knew that it was a lockdown, a real one, one that caused panic to form in all our faces, as well as my teacher’s. Fortunately, I was able to go home safely that day but my classmate was not so lucky. She had been shot through the window of a classroom down the stairs from me by a BB gun. That event alone had shown me that no one can adequately prepare for a school shooting. The panic that occurs when one’s life is threatened cannot be calculated. I am not sure if my teacher would ever be prepared to take down the shooter from a rooftop meters away from the building. 

The issue lies in guns. America should constantly make efforts to limit gun access, not encourage it.